1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a washing machine and more particularly to the construction of the washing machine that facilitates and simplifies the breaking up of the washing machine to recycle or re-use the components thereof and the method of breaking up, the washing machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An electric washing machine of the following construction is well known. That is, a washing-tub assembly is suspended by a suspension mechanism and is able to swing in a box-like housing. The washing-tub assembly includes a spin tub. for squeezingxe2x80x94which also serves as a washing tubxe2x80x94and a water tub. The spin tub and the water tub are both cylindrical in shape with an open upper end and a closed bottom, and are disposed concentric with each other with the spin tub being inside of the water tub. The spin tub is provided with a number of holes or slits through which the water squeezed by centrifugal force is drained. The water tub has no holes or slits unlike the spin tub and is so designed to hold cleansing solution or rinse water. A balancer is mounted on the upper part of the spin tub to keep down the vibration of the spin tub during the squeezing step. A pulsator is provided at the inner bottom of the spin tub to stir the cleansing solution or rinse water. A motor is attached to the outer bottom of the water tub via a mounting plate. The motor turns the pulsator alone or together with the spin tub. Only the pulsator is turned during a washing/rinsing mode, while the pulsator and the spin tub are turned together during a squeezing mode. The bottom of the water tub water tub is provided with a drain valve to drain the cleansing solution and rinse water. A top cover is mounted on top of the housing. The top cover is molded of a synthetic resin and at its center has an opening through which washings are thrown in or taken out. On the front portion (the side close to the operator) of the top cover, an operation panel and an operation control unit are provided, and on its rear portion (the side remote from the operator), such component parts as a water valve, a pouring case and a reactor are placed.
Recycling or re-use of the component parts of electric appliances is much talked about in the world of late. Some nations or regions have legislated or are going to legislate recycling acts. Electric washing machines are no exception. In view of the recent trends to recycling acts of the component parts, the washing machines have to be so designed that they are easy to break up and the components thereof can be sorted out without difficulty. However, the prior art washing machines are not of such a construction as to meet the recycling requirements. To cite some examples, the prior art washing machines have the following problems that hinder the breaking up work.
(a) To remove the suspension mechanism of the washing-tub assembly from the housing, it is necessary to lighten the load on the upper part of the suspension mechanism by raising the washing-tub assembly and then to detach the connecting parts of suspension mechanism by hand one by one. The washing-tub assembly is so heavy that this task needs two personnel, rather than one. In case the work has to be done by one person, he/she may need mechanical assistance.
(b) To remove the lower part of the suspension mechanism from the washing-tub assembly, the washing-tub assembly, too, has to be raised to lighten the load on the lower part of the suspension mechanism. Then the connecting parts of the suspension mechanism are detached by hand one by one. As in the case of removing the upper part of the suspension mechanism from the housing, this task needs two personnel. In case this task has to be done by one person, he/she may need mechanical assistance.
(c) The balancer is attached to the spin tub by many screws. It is a time-consuming job to remove all those screws before the balancer can be removed.
(d) The drain valve is bonded to the drain mouth with an adhesive and difficult to remove from the water tub. Even if the drain valve is successfully removed, the residual adhesive on the bonding area causes deterioration of the quality of the recycled resin.
(e) To retrieve synthetic resin from the top cover, many parts fixed on it have to be removed, and this is a time-consuming job. The top cover with the parts fixed thereon might be shredded to retrieve metals, but this scheme makes it very difficult to sort out resin materials.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide a washing machine of a new construction that solves aforementioned problems encountered in breaking up the prior art washing machines. It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide a washing machine in which the suspension mechanism to suspend and hold the washing-tub assembly within the housing is easy to remove from the housing. It is another object of the present invention to provide a washing machine of which the suspension mechanism is easy to remove from the washing-tub assembly. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a washing machine in which the balancer is easy to remove from the spin tub. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a washing machine in which the spin tub is easy to remove from the water tub and the resin to be recycled from the retrieved resin material remains good in quality. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a washing machine in which the top cover is easy to break up and the retrieval of synthetic resins therefrom is also easy. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method of breaking up the washing machine speedily.
To effect those objects, the following construction is adopted for the washing machine of the present invention. First, a plurality of upper receptors are provided at the upper inside of a housing. A plurality of lower receptors, which correspond with the upper ones, are provided at the lower outside of a washing-tub assembly. Each pair of upper and lower receptors are connected by a rod to constitute a suspension mechanism. Each rod has an upper support and a lower support, at its upper and lower ends respectively. The supports are larger than the rod in diameter. The upper support engages with the upper receptor and the lower support engages with the lower receptor, thereby suspending the washing-tub assembly in the housing. On the top of the upper receptor is formed a recess. At the bottom of the recess are provided a hole and a slit, which serves as a path to the hole. The diameter of the hole and the width of the slit are set at such a size that the rod can pass through while the upper support cannot. In an intermediate point of the slit, a retainer is provided. This retainer can take its first and second positions selectively. In the first position, the retainer holds the rod in the hole. In the second position, the retainer allows the rod to pass through the slit to fit into the hole or come out of the hole through the slit. By shifting the retainer from the first position to the second position, the rod can be removed from the upper receptor without lifting the washing-tub assembly.
The lower receptor is designed in such a way. It is formed in the shape of a cylinder with a closed top and an open bottom, and provided with a hole at the top and a slit expanding from the side to the top to serve as a path to the hole. The diameter of the hole and the width of the slit so measure that the rod can pass through while the lower support cannot. And the slit is provided in such a position that when the washing-tub assembly is lifted until the lower support comes out below the lower receptor, the rod swings automatically out of the lower receptor through the slit in the direction radial to the center of the washing-tub assembly. The joining point of the hole and the slit is so formed as not to hinder the rod motion induced by gravity. Because of this arrangement, the rod frees itself from the second receptor and the washing-tub assembly can be separated from the housing by merely lifting the washing-tub assembly.
A balancer is mounted on a spin tub in the following way. An annular groove to receive the top portion of the spin tub is provided on the bottom of the balancer. Protrusions are provided on one sidexe2x80x94either on the underside of the balancer or at the top of the spin tubxe2x80x94and, recesses corresponding with the protrusions are provided on the other side. The balancer is mounted on the spin tub by fitting the top portion of the spin tub in said groove to engage the protrusions with the recesses. Since the turning force from the spin tub is delivered to the balancer through the protrusions and the recesses, a small number of screws are enough to retain the balancer in place against lifting force, and this leads to a substantial reduction of time needed for removing the screws in the breaking-up process unlike the prior-art balancer which is fixed by a large number of screws. In another arrangement, connecting fingers with claws or recesses at their tips extend downward from the balancer, and the top of the spin tub is provided with recesses or claws that engage with the claws or recesses of said connecting fingers. The balancer is mounted on the spin tub by fitting the top portion of the spin tub in the groove on the underside of the balancer to engage the claws or recesses of the connecting fingers with the recesses or claws on the spin tub side. This way, the balancer can be fixed on the spin tub without using any screws, which further shortens the time needed for separating the balancer.
A drain valve is connected to a drain mouth of a water tub in the following way. The drain valve is fixed on a plate for mounting a motor to be fixed on the underside of the water tub so that an inlet pipe is fit over the drain mouth. The inlet pipe is pressed by the mounting plate to force the inlet pipe around the drain mouth. If the mounting plate is separated from the water tub, the drain valve will also come off the drain mouth, leaving no adhesive.
A top cover is arranged in the following way. The front portion of the cover is provided with an operation panel and an operation control unit, while the rear portion thereof is provided with a parts unit formed by mounting at least a water valve and a pouring case on a base, and a rear cover to cover the parts unit. Since the parts positioned at the rear of the top cover can be removed as a parts unit in a lump, the synthetic resin of the top cover can be retrieved for recycling without much increasing the time for breaking-up work.
Meanwhile, the washing machine is so designed that it can be broken up in the following way. When breaking up a washing machine with a box-like housing inside which are found: a washing-tub assembly including a spin tubxe2x80x94which serves as a washing tub as wellxe2x80x94and a water tub inside which the spin tub is disposed and can hold the cleansing solution or rinse water; a pulsator to stir the cleansing solution or rinse water within the spin tub; at the top of the spin tub, a ring-shaped balancer that keeps down vibration of the washing tub assembly during a squeezing step; on the underside of the water tub, a motor to turn the pulsator alone or the spin tub and pulsator together; at the top of the housing, a top cover; in the front portion of the top cover, an operation panel and an operation control unit; and in the rear portion of the top cover, a parts unit formed by mounting at least a water valve and a pouring case on a base, and a rear panel to cover the parts unit, the following steps are taken:
(a) separating the top cover, operation panel and operation control unit, parts unit and rear panel from the washing machine""s mechanical compartment, which includes the housing and the washing-tub assembly,
(b) separating the washing-tub assembly from the housing,
(c) breaking up the washing-tub assembly into the pulsator, spin tub and water tub,
(d) separating the balancer from the spin tub, and
(e) removing the motor from the water tub. Thus, the respective component parts can be recycled by suitable techniques.